During construction periods, storm drain catch basins and the like must be protected. That is, various local and state regulations require developers to prevent silt, debris and other objects from entering the catch basins during construction of roads and streets. Typically, grading contractors and others that build infrastructure for subdivisions and other developments will erect a structure around the storm drain catch basin to catch silt, debris and other unwanted materials. In one example, the structure utilized comprises a series of vertical posts that are erected around the catch basin. After the posts are erected, a silt fence is wrapped around and secured to the post such that the silt fence extends around the inlet to the catch basin.
There are a number of problems with this approach. First, building temporary silt protection devices around each catch basin is very laborious, time consuming and expensive. A normal subdivision will have many catch basins and, in the end, erecting these temporary silt fences is extremely costly. The second problem is that conventional silt fences around storm drain catch basins are not entirely effective. They often fail. This occurs sometimes when there is a large storm and large amounts of storm water rush toward the silt fence extending around the catch basin. It is not unusual for the storm water to carry so much silt and debris that the fence and the structure supporting the fence collapse, resulting in substantial volumes of silt, debris and other unwanted objects entering the catch basin.